Just Might Make Me Believe
by h0mgt0nda
Summary: Severus needs to lighten up and let someone into his life. Who better to help him out with that than Dumbledore's new staff member, Shayne Taylor? Not really HPB or DH compliant.
1. Chapter 1

For years he had been trying to live down the pain and humiliation that were the results of his long standing obsession with Lily Evans Potter. For years people would bring it up, would make fun of him, would do everything they could to bring him down. They acted as if it was his fault that Lily had run to James instead of to himself. Like it was his fault that he apparently wasn't good enough for her. But he knew better. He knew that there was nothing he could have done to make her love him. He knew that the reason he had pushed her away and called her a mudblood wasn't because that's how he honestly felt, but rather because it was easier to pretend he didn't love her. When she acted nice to him, still running to James at the end of the day, he could feel his heart shattering every day. But by pushing her away -- his heart only broke, steeling itself against more severe pain.

But even after she was murdered so awfully, people continued to make fun of his love for her. It didn't matter that she was dead, she still managed to haunt his every passing thought. Every moment of every day, she was there. Which was why the bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey was half empty. To say he had a drink once in a while would be the understatement of the year. In fact, it was a good day when he only made his way through a single bottle. So the fact that he was only halfway through the bottle at such a late hour could be seen as a small miracle.

The man with the bottle rested his onyx eyes on a picture frame across the room. The light mahogany frame held a picture of a laughing and bubbly redhead who kept looking towards him and waving, her bright emerald eyes shining merrily. He grabbed a book off the end table beside the couch he was sitting on and threw it at the frame unceremoniously. "This is all your fault, witch," he growled as he took another long slug from the bottle. He had to fight the urge to get up and fix the frame with everything he had.

"What are you doing to yourself?" he asked himself as he caught a glimpse of his reflection in the mirror above the fireplace. His hair hung lank and greasy, rather than just looking that way, reaching past his shoulders, and the bags under his eyes seemed to encompass his whole face. He looked skinnier than usual, his large beaklike nose looking even more out of place on his face than ever before. His long black robes hung loose off his body. His bones almost seemed to protrude out of his skin and his movements were jerky. "You're going to end up killing yourself one of these days, old man. Is she really worth it?"

_He had been sitting at his desk in his office for the better part of an hour, grading papers that the idiotic students of his had written. As he made another long red slash through the entirety of someone's essay on bezoars, he scoffed at the fact that they had somehow mistakes bezoars for a love potion. They just continued to get stupider as the years progressed. He looked up and had to bite back a groan when he noticed Hermione Granger standing in his doorway. "How can I help you, Miss Granger?"_

"_Professor Dumbledore told me to come get you. It's dinner time and he thinks that you should be there."_

"_I do not wish to be there," he replied back to her, wishing she would take the hint and go away. But he should have known better._

"_He said you would say that. In which case I was told to bind you and force you to go. We are getting a new professor and he very much wants you to be there. It's mandatory for everyone in school." He sighed but stood up nonetheless and headed out the door with the teen girl on his tail. "I hear she is really pretty, sir."_

"_Why do I care what she looks like, Miss Granger?"_

"_I don't know. She's not a real professor. I don't think. She's more an aide to anyone who needs help."_

"_Good for her."_

_The large doors of the Great Hall opened allowing "the bat" and "the know-it-all" to enter the grand room. From where he stood he could see all of the students sitting at their house tables and all of the faculty members sitting in their seats at the head table. What he didn't see there, was anyone new. Or even an empty seat for someone new to begin to sit._

"_Ah it's about time," a tall man wearing a wizard's hat had stood up and was standing in front of a podium with gleaming eyes. "Professor Snape, if you would care to join us up here at your seat, and if Miss Granger would return to her seat also then I think we may be able to have our quick chat and then begin our feast." _

_The old man waiting until both parties had taken their seats, one looking excited at the prospect of getting a new teacher to learn from, the other scowling at the thought of why the headmaster would hire someone to be an aide. "Now, as I'm sure all of you know, there is a war going on. Due to this, I thought it was best to bring in another faculty member. Not only will she be readily available should someone need some extra tutoring, but she has a degree in medicine and will be helping out Madame Pomfrey should the need arise." He waited until everyone had settled down from their loud chatter at the mention of the war and then smiled. "Now I would like you all to welcome Miss Shayne Taylor."_

_As he spoke the name, the large doors at the entrance of the room opened up again to reveal a woman in her mid-twenties. As she made her way up to the table her dark red curls bobbed happily around her shoulder blades. She could feel every pair of eyes on her and she had to work hard to fight back the blush at so much attention. She didn't want them to think that she was nervous or anything about the job. _

_Dumbledore looked towards the audience again and with a slight nod of his head he heard all of the students begin a chorus of "Good evening, Miss Taylor." With a proud smile on his face he turned to look at the professors and other workers at the school and he nearly laughed out loud at the look of pure unadulterated hatred radiating off of Severus Snape. With that thought, he tapped his wand against the table and everyone watched as it enlarged, placing a chair right beside the greasy bat from the dungeons. Taking that as her cue to sit down, Shayne walked towards her seat and pulled a napkin down onto her lap. "Let the feast begin," Dumbledore boomed at the crowd._

_As Shayne sat down she was immediately brought into the conversation around the table. Most of the professors around her were asking her questions about herself, about what her favorite class was. Yet others were asking her questions like if she had a man, or if not, was she into women. She had to laugh and shake her head at that. "No, sorry to disappoint. I am into men. Though I hardly believe that's appropriate conversation for the dinner table."_

_She heard a disgruntled voice from next to her saying "why not, they talk about everything else."_

_She looked over at the man with the rich voice and she smiled at him. "Alright, well then let's save it until everyone's gotten to know me. I hardly think it's appropriate trying to find out about my love life on the first night that I'm here. And I'm sure you don't want to hear about it anyway, so that can be a private matter between us girls. Well and of course Headmaster Dumbledore if he cares to join us," she looked over at the older man and winked playfully when she saw that his eyes were gleaming back at her._

_Severus Snape didn't miss the exchange of looks. If she was already plotting with the old coot then there was no hope for her. They were already in for it with her. She probably thought it was funny, messing around with people's heads like she was. _

_Mind you, Shayne Taylor had no idea that one of the main reasons why Severus Snape continued to glare at her had nothing to do with her becoming fast friends with Dumbledore, and had everything to do with her dark red curls. She wasn't one to prod into people's minds to find out what they liked or what they didn't like. And she certainly wasn't one to prod into people's minds to find out about a past obsession who had long red hair and bright green eyes. So she didn't have any clue that there was a possibility she might have been able to get on with the man if she simply -- changed her hair color._

_The rest of dinner went by smoothly -- or as smoothly as possible when you were constantly being glared at for something you didn't do. After dinner however was when the real fun started. She made her way out of the Great Hall and was immediately stopped by a horde of teenage girls. "Miss Taylor! Miss Taylor! Miss Taylor!" She hated being called that, but she knew it would be too informal to have everyone call her Shayne. "Miss Taylor, we saw the way all the boys were looking at you, and we want the boys to look at us like that too. Please teach us how to be as pretty as you." She was surprised to hear an eleven year old girl saying that to her._

"_Darling, it's called makeup. I'm not sure someone as young as you should necessarily be wearing it, but I suppose if the older girls would like to learn how ---"_

"_Oh please Miss Taylor! Teach us all! We promise not to make ourselves look like two-knut prostitutes. We just want boys to notice us."_

_She took a deep breath and then nodded. "Alright. I'll talk to the headmaster about maybe allowing a sleepover one night where girls from all different houses can come." She heard them all begin cheering and she help up a hand "I have to speak with the headmaster first."_

_She laughed to herself as they all walked away still giddy about the idea of an interhouse sleepover where they would learn how to put on makeup and play dressup and learn all about what it took to make boys like them. As she was laughing at herself and shaking her head she bumped into the one person who could spoil her happy mood. "Oh well hello, sir."_

_He glared at her and she bit her lip to keep from flinching under his gaze. "I am not your teacher, I expect that you would be able to call me by my given name rather than by sir, thank you very much Miss Taylor." He turned on his heel and strode away from her, leaving her to stick her tongue out at his back as he swept away from her in a hurry to get to the dungeons. _

"_That's right," she mumbled to herself. "Head back to your lair, you creepy hawk-like man."_


	2. Chapter 2

The next few days flew by rather quickly, much to Shayne's surprise. She could remember when she had first started university and the days seemed to drag on for eternity, just as they had when she had gone to secondary school. But working at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a blessing in disguise. She had been helping out nearly every professor there (aside from the hawk that resided in the dungeons) and she had even helped out Madame Pince, the librarian. Much to her displeasure she had spent the entire time attempting to categorize large volumes that of course could be separated perfectly fine into multiple categories. She had then been asked to reorganize the Restricted Section, and in return had nearly gotten one of her toes bitten off by a small demon hiding in the pages of a worn leather book.

She had, however, managed to talk to the headmaster and had gotten him to agree on allowing a one night sleepover. She had asked him for more, trying to possibly get one every month, but he had told her they would wait and see how this one panned out. Now she just had to find a way to get all of the girls who wanted to attend to sign a form that would give them the permission to be out of their dorms that night and allow them to all convene in the Great Hall for a night of good times. Thank goodness some of the students had already tried getting on her good side by helping her out whenever she needed it.

"Ah, Hermione. Just the girl I wanted to see." Shayne could sense the girl's apprehension at being summoned in the middle of the hallway, but the bushy-haired brunette made her way over to the woman anyway. "You're not in trouble, love. Ease up. Actually I was wondering if you could do something for me. I'm going to be making a form for girls who want to attend the sleepover, and I figure the best way to have everyone sign it would be to post a form in each of the house's common rooms. If I gave you a copy would you post it in your common room?"

Despite the fact that she worked at the school, she was still new. And as such, it didn't seem as though she was trusted as much as some of the other professors. So they had yet to reveal the passwords to the houses to her. Not that she didn't understand that. They were in war, and only a crazy person would just go around giving out passwords willy-nilly. She had to keep telling herself that despite what everyone thought, and despite how crazy he _seemed_, Albus Dumbledore was not a moron.

"Of course I can put it in there. Who are you going to get to put them in the other houses?" Hermione Granger was by no means a stupid girl. She knew enough about pretty much everything she did to make herself _seem _like an expert on the subject. But when it came to Hogwarts, Hermione really was an expert. She had read the book Hogwarts, A History more times than she could count, and she had become friends with nearly all of the ghosts. Peeves was the only one she didn't wish to be friends with, and the Bloody Baron was about as cold as Severus Snape so it was proving to be rather fruitless. She had also been attending the school for six years. So she pretty well knew everyone in attendance. Due to this extensive knowledge, she knew who was to be trusted and who wasn't.

"Well, I was going to have you, Lisa, Daphne and Hannah go ahead and take care of it for me. Did you have a better suggestion?" Since Shayne was so new she valued Hermione's opinion when it came to who to trust with such a simple task and who to not trust. "I'll give them to you later on today and then I'll ask for them back say in a couple days, maybe a week, that way all the girls have a chance to sign it when its convenient for them, then afterwards I'll have you guys bring them back to me so that I can bring them to the headmaster. He wants the lists so that those girls who are on the list won't get in trouble if they're caught roaming the halls. I'll of course have all the girls meet up with me for a meeting a day or so before the actual sleepover so that I can set some ground rules."

She hadn't noticed that she had been walking with Hermione towards the girl's next class until they stopped outside an unfamiliar dark wood door. She let her eyes linger around the dimly lit hallway and then turned to Hermione who was just about to enter the classroom. "This is the dungeons isn't it?" She flinched when the girl nodded and then she took a deep breath. It didn't matter that she was in the dungeons. It wasn't as if a hawk-faced bat was going to swoop out of nowhere and kill her on the spot.

"Now that's where you're mistaken, Ms. Taylor," she heard someone drawl from behind her elbow. Her eyes went wide and she looked like a deer caught in the headlights when she turned around to see the very same hawk man that she had been thinking of. "By the way, Ms. Taylor, it would be in your best interest to learn occlumency. I am a very skilled leglimens. And I don't ask permission to invade people's minds. Especially minds that are so easily opened." He watched as a deep scarlet blush covered the woman before him. "Be on your way now."

She stomped her foot on the ground like a small child and pointed a finger at him, slamming it into his chest. "I won't be on my way until I decide I want to be on my way. I don't know who you think you are but you don't own this castle. You don't even own these dungeons. So just get off your high horse and stop thinking that you're better than everybody. Because to tell ya the truth, _asshole_, you're not. You think that just because you're tall and imposing looking that makes you better? People aren't really afraid of you. And why would you be sitting here bragging about being a leglimens? That automatically makes people think you're a dark wizard. Why would you want people to think that? So you can feel better about yourself, making kids so nervous that you can't teach them anything because they are so busy trying _not_ to make a mistake in your presence? You're like a vulture or something just waiting for something to go wrong so you have something to pick at."

On the outside Severus Snape kept his cool demeanor, managing to look bored throughout her entire monologue. On the inside, he was fuming. Not only had the redhead dared to touch him, but she was sitting there talking to him as though her were a mere child. How was she to know whether or not he owned the dungeons? And was she stupid, or just really that out of touch? Of course he wanted people to think that he was a dark wizard. That's what happened when you were working as a spy not only for the Dark Lord but also for Voldemort. It played in his favor that students feared him. And she had just contradicted herself by saying that he made students nervous not minutes after she had told him that nobody feared him. He tried getting into her mind at that moment to see if she was one of the ones that he made nervous, but she had blocked him. She probably hadn't done it intentionally though. It was most likely the anger that was radiating off of her in waves that was causing the block in her mind.

He let his eyes leave her form when he heard cheering coming from inside his classroom. Had she really been loud enough that the students had heard her? Probably. He shot a look at them that would normally have them all quivering in their seats, but it did nothing to still the cheers and laughter of the students in his class. He was going to have to have a word with Ms. Taylor later on. For the moment, he was just going to have to go ahead and put on a front of indifference and go about teaching like normal. She hadn't even been around for a week and he could already see that this was going to be an extremely long year.

**A/N: Wow that's pretty much the fastest I've managed to type out a decent update. I hope it's to everyone's liking. Thank you, Skylark Potter, for reviewing the story. You made me want to actually continue writing. Glad to see someone is humored by Shayne Taylor. She's as stubborn as our friend Severus, isn't she. So please, I know you guys are reading it, please review. Let me know what you think. If you like it, let me know what you liked. If you didn't like it, let me know what I could improve on. **

**xoxo.**


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